Piers Plowman and the New Anticlericalism

by Wendy Scase

• ISBN13: 9780521044547
• ISBN10: 0521044545
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The medieval English poem Piers Plowman is noted for its attacks on the clergy. The later fourteenth century, when the poem was written, is often thought of as an anticlerical age. Yet this is the first book on fourteenth-century English anticlericalism, and the first extended investigation of the anticlericalism of the poem. Dr Scase challenges the usual assumption that long-established anticlerical traditions continued unchanged in the conflicts of this period. She describes and analyses important but little-known medieval polemics and satires (many of them only available in manuscript), tracing the emergence of a distinctive 'new anticlericalism' which entailed nothing less than the making of a new anticlerical literature. With the writing of Piers Plowman, she argues, this literary challenge was accepted. Always referring closely to the contemporary controversies, and with constant attention to the detail of the text, she reveals the significance of the poem's anticlericalism. Informative and rigorously argued, this book is intended to convince literary critics and historians alike.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Note on quotations and references

List of abbreviations

Introduction: tradition and the new anticlericalism

The usurpation of priestly power and the transformation of an antifraternal satire

Poverty: an old controversy and a new polemic

Charity: the ground of anticlericalism

Antireligious traditions and a new satire in the C-text

Clerical dominion and authority in new anticlerical literature

Notes

Bibliography

General index

Index of Piers Plowman citations

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